The international Russian-Finnish-Estonian youth camp preparing the Youth Declaration on the Protection of the Gulf of Finland ended on July 27th. Friends of the Baltic was one of the organizers. Russian participants returned to St. Petersburg with the Declaration that reflects the young people’s thoughts about how the regions around the Gulf of Finland should be developed, and how the gulf’s ecological condition could be improved. The document will be presented on September 19th at the international Festival of the Gulf of Finland at the Tavricheskiy Palace.

The camp was organized at the picturesque Vuosaari neighbourhood (eastern part of Helsinki), in Meriharju Nature House, where the young representatives of Estonia, Finland and Russia for a period of four days discussed the joint Youth Declaration on the Protection of the Gulf of Finland, which was initiated by the Friends of the Baltic. The international group had an important task to determine, whom the declaration will be addressed to and what principles and suggestions will it include.

Many of the problems that the inhabitants around different parts of the Gulf of Finland are facing are similar, for example, chemical pollution, negative ecological effects of recreational use, and the loss of biodiversity. However, there are also local problems. For instance, Russia hasn’t still signed the international convention concerning the mandatory double hulls in oil tankers to reduce the risk of oil spills.

The international group tried to take into account all the possible problems and so they included in the final document solution proposals for both local and shared problems. Before September, the final declaration will be translated into three languages: Russian, Estonian and Finnish, and on September 19th, it will be presented at the international Festival of the Gulf of Finland in St. Petersburg.